FNAC as a Diagnostic Tool in the Evaluation of Lymphadenopathy-A Tertiary Hospital Experience

Abstract

Introduction: Fine Needle Aspiration cytology (FNAC) is a rapid diagnostic technique for the initial evaluation of palpable swellings. Enlarged lymph nodes are a common lesion subjected to FNAC. The cytomorphological features observed on cytology correlate very well with the histological appearances. Besides initial diagnosis of lymphoma, it also helps in diagnosis of residual disease, recurrence, progression of low grade to high grade lymphoma and also the detection of metastasis as lymph nodes are a common site of metastasis of different cancers. Materials and Methods: The present study comprises of 396 patients who presented with lymphadenopathy in the department of pathology, Giansagar medical college and hospital, Ramnagar, Patiala, Punjab from April 2008 to March 2011 (3 years). All the patients were subjected to FNAC using a 10 ml syringe and 22 gauge needles. 70 cases were subjected to lymph node biopsy. The cytological results were compared with the histological findings wherever possible. Observations & Results: Cervical lymph nodes were the commonest ones that were sampled (216) followed by axillary (115) and inguinal lymph nodes (65). FNAC diagnosis was divided into malignant and non malignant lesions. Metastatic cancer was the commonest malignancy observed whereas reactive hyperplasia was the commonest non malignant condition followed by granulomatous pathology. The cytological diagnosis correlated well with the histopathological diagnosis with the best correlation found in metastatic cancer (100%) Conclusion: FNAC of lymph nodes proved to be a very useful tool in the diagnosis and early evaluation of enlarged lymph nodes. It is useful in diagnosis of both neoplastic as well as non neoplastic conditions.